Bisaccia Wants To Evaluate ST Players Without Outside Help

IRVING, Texas – Special teams coach Rich Bisaccia would rather conjure his own opinions about his new team’s personnel than develop any preconceived notions about certain players.

Bisaccia’s ahead of the curve in his film work, already having watched “every player, every game, preseason included, multiple times.” He said evaluations and staff meetings have already occurred and he looks forward to working with assistant special teams coach Chris Boniol. But, he wants to gather his own beliefs about his new special teams groups.

“It helps having Chris because of his expertise and because of what he’s started to do in the National Football League,” Bisaccia said. “But to be honest with you, I don’t really want anyone else’s opinion on the players. I’d like to, we would like to, in our own way, do an evaluation of how they played and where they fit and the things we’re going to ask them to do.”

That’s not to say he doesn’t want to work hand-in-hand with Boniol. He just wants to develop a fair opinion about the players from last year’s squad without establishing a biased opinion first.

“I’m excited about working with Chris,” Bisaccia said. “I’ve been a fan of his the last few years. We’ve practiced against him, so picking his brain has been good from a technical standpoint. But as far as the evaluation of the players, we all have a clean slate.

“I’ve done nothing with the Dallas Cowboys except be fortunate to get here, so every player, in my opinion, is going to be the same way in the room. We’re just going to start over and put our system in, and the players are going to kind of show us what they can do with the system.”

Bisaccia said he can tell returners Dwayne Harris and Dez Bryant play with passion to go with their tremendous ability, and he’s excited to be a part of the development of both. Harris took over for Bryant midway through the season as the punt returner and averaged 16.1 yards per return. Bisaccia will have more work to do in fixing the kick return game, after the Cowboys finished 29th in the league in yards per return.

He also looks forward to working with Dan Bailey, who drilled 29-of-31 field goals last year.

“I thought he had a tremendous year,” Bisaccia said. “Chris obviously has a good handle on what he’s done. The film we saw, we’re certainly excited about the future. We’re just looking forward to getting into (Organized Team Activities) when that time starts.” Read